Facing Harsh Criticism, NYPD Retrains Officers on Media Protocol

In the aftermath of reporter run-ins and media black outs at Occupy Wall Street, the New York Police Department has been ramping up its training for interacting with reporters and photojournalists, according to Capital New York.

A November 21 letter signed by 13 news organizations, and drafted by an attorney for The New York Times, reminded NYPD that the had agreed that ” additional training to reinforce media guidelines, for newer officers on the force, would be beneficial.”

Although NYPD insisted such training had been ongoing, spokesman Paul Browne recently reissued the following noninterference order:

“Members of the service who unreasonably interfere with media access to incidents or who intentionally prevent or obstruct the photographing or videotaping of news in public places will be subject to disciplinary action.”

They’ve also been distributing a summary of protocol for interacting with media to officers at demonstrations.